A Chat about Baseball and Steroids

Here's a slightly edited version of an IM conversation I had with Sue today. For those of you keeping score at home, this would be Boston Sue, not to be confused with Williamstown Sue, or 14th Street Sue, or San Francisco Sue, or any of the other assorted Sues in my life. The discussion presupposes a little bit of knowledge about the situation, but if you've got that, we do a pretty good job of conveying my opinions on the Baseball Juicing Scandal.

It opens up with a quotation Cory sent to me today.

from the A-Rod press conference:

Freudian Slip of the Decade:
“I’m here to take my medicine.”
Alex Rodriguez, February 17, 2009



Sue: oh that's an unfortunate choice of words.
Me: hehehe
Sue: personally i think all the steroids stuff is b.s. - as far as calling out individual players.
Me: oh i totally agree
Sue: 1. mlb knew damn well it was going on, but it was filling the seats, so they were completely happy to look the other way
Me: at least for things that happened before 2004
Sue: 2. it wasn't even illegal when some of these guys were doing it.
Me: well, it kind of was, but it was awfully fuzzy until '05
Me: and a LOT of them were doing it
Sue: 3. the ones who were able to stay ahead of the testing or who were just better at hiding it will never be called to the carpet.
Sue: let the past go. set a competent testing (and punishment) policy now and just move forward already
Me: and while it's kind of fun to watch mr. rod wriggle around and try to sell the idea that he had no IDEA what his 'cousin' was shooting into his ass (other than that it was purchased over-the-counter in d.r.)
Me: it would be one of the all-time peaks of hypocrisy for MLB to punish him for it at this point
Sue: exactly
Me: what's more, i haven't spoken to a single baseball fan who disagrees with us
Me: but, of course, i live in fake america, not real america
Sue: lol!
Sue: but even what they're doing to reputations, future hall of fame chances, etc. is disgusting
Me: the sports writers are vying for attention
Me: the hall of fame and MLB record keepers know better
Me: and hopefully will act like it
Sue: i dunno. people are already saying clemens won't make the hall of fame after his debacle
Me: it's a pity that mcgwire became the poster boy for juicers so early in the discussion

Me: because i don't think that his not getting into the hall had anything to do with 'roids*
Me: clemens not getting in would devalue the hall of fame to the point of reducing it to an homage to the past

Me: it would be a HUGE mistake
Me: bonds too

Me: a-rod too
Sue: agreed
Me: and now that we've solved everything, it's time for me to go home!
Sue: woo-hoo!!!
Me: thanks once again for the brilliant and witty I-correspondence

So there that is. Let me clear up a something before people get all yitzy. I am not endorsing or advocating the use of anabolic steroids, for ballplayers or anyone else. I am opposed to them. They're bad for you. Really bad.

A co-worker of mine said something to the effect of "I have no problem with steroids. I like home runs. Baseball players are like horses - they should shoot up with whatever they want if it makes the game more entertaining for the fans." Now, I disagree with that on a whole bunch of levels. That said, I also disagree with the notion that pro athletes are a good compass for healthy living and/or ethical behavior. That ideal hasn't been particularly valid since World War II, at least not in this country. Henry Aaron, who was and is one of my all-time baseball heros, admits in his book I Had a Hammer that he 'tried using' amphetamines, as was common in his era to increase alertness and endurance over the long season on the road. We don't know for sure how much he used them. And I don't care. He was a great baseball player. If you think the fact that he took speed compromises his claim to being a great man, so be it. I actually think there's an argument to be made that Hank Aaron may be a 'great man.' (You'd have to look far and wide to find someone who'd say that about Barry Bonds.) No one is perfect. And, once again, I think one would be ill-advised to turn to Major League Baseball for models of healthy living.

To sum up:

A bunch of guys (including but not limited to Bonds, Rodriguez and Clemens) took steroids.

A bunch of guys (including but not limited to Hank Aaron) took speed.

Don't know how you'd call it a performance-enhancing drug, but Doc Ellis threw a no-hitter while he was on LSD.

Babe Ruth's regimen of high-fat food, beer and cigars is the stuff of legend.

And while we're on it, baseball's alcohol consumption has never exactly been limited to the champagne at the end of the World Series.

Let this be a reminder to the people who want to start pasting a bunch of asterisks all over the record books and bolt the doors of the Hall of Fame.

I think it's good that Baseball is getting serious about making sure that its athletes don't take steroids. (If it is in fact serious - Baseball had no trouble with steroid use when all those home runs were bringing back disillusioned fans. If you believe that the owners and coaches - and sportswriters - weren't aware of what was going on, I've got a stadium in the Bronx to sell you.) And while there's still a civil libertarian part of me that thinks that there should be a wide berth of freedom in terms of a person's right to put things into his or her own body, I think an honest and enthusiastic national education effort about the effects of anabolic steroids (not to be confused with a big ol' propaganda campaign) would be a great idea. While they're at it, maybe they wouldn't mind covering things like food additives, high fructose corn syrup, livestock antibiotics and growth hormones, and the environmental ramifications of agribusiness.

We can hope, right?

Meanwhile, the full teams are reporting to Spring Training. Can we shut up and play ball?

*For those of you who don't really follow baseball - I think the media stink about Mark Mcgwire being excluded from the Hall of Fame because he admitted juicing is just more fog. He didn't get into the Hall because his career didn't warrant it, steroids or no steroids. He was, as dad would say, a One Tool Player. He could hit for power. Period. And not necessarily when you needed him to. Argue with me if you want (by all means!) but I think that you'd almost have to admit that if they let in Mcgwire, they have to go back and let in Roger Maris.

Wrong

With a capital W.

...Judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care.

And people say Amy Goodman is a wacko alarmist for referring to the Prison Industrial Complex. Yes, ok - I realize this is an extreme example (though I don't think it's unwarranted, if you'll pardon the pun, to ask how many cases like this there are where the creeps responsible just haven't been caught), but it's also a symptom of a society in which Private Security is one of the fastest growing industries.

Epic fail, people. Epic. Fail.

So, Today Is Kind of Important

I mean, not important like my birthday or anything. But it is Abraham Lincoln's 200th Birthday. Which is pretty cool.





And, as if that weren't enough, it's also Charles Darwin's 200th Birthday.



Think about that! Two of the most important minds of the millenium (am I exaggerating? I don't think so.) born on the exact same day. That's pretty rad. I don't think they ever hung out though. What if they did? Maybe Tom Stoppard should write a play about it.

One guy from Arizona out there is trying to lump Edgar Allan Poe into the party, but I'm not having it. Don't get me wrong: Poe was great. I love him. I love that he gets claimed by New York, Boston, and Baltimore. One of the most important writers of the 19th Century, for sure. But - his birthday? January 19. Sorry, guy from Arizona: close isn't good enough. Edgar Allan can suck it. We're celebrating February 12 today.


AND - as if that weren't enough - today is also the day that pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. Do you think they did it on purpose?

Maybe the Biggest Music Geek I Know

This morning I listened to the Pete Townshend album White City. One of the tunes popped into my head, and I started thinking about how I own the LP of that record, and have the tape around my place somewhere, but that I didn't have it on CD and that's just a shame, so I downloaded it and popped it onto my ipod for the commute in.



Listening to it on the bus, I began to think about the parallels between it and U2's The Joshua Tree.

Before long, I had outlined a whole presentation in my head on the subject - basically a compare-and-contrast lecture/article that I could deliver, including musical and lyrical elements, the projects' places in the context of rock music and popular culture, and the balance that the two albums struck in terms of exploration of the American Landscape and British Urban life. Then I started thinking about this presentation being a part of a course on the subject of rock and pop music seen through the prism of theater.

This was all brought on by a nice close listen to an underappreciated masterpiece of a rock record that I hadn't heard for a while.

It was a pretty good trip to work.

Then work happened for a while (as it will). And we were having lunch and one of the directors mentioned how her mother played dulcimer and is featured on a number of CDs. I asked "Plucked or hammered?" She said that her mom plays a mountain dulcimer, the plucked kind, and one of my other colleagues turned and looked at me with a look of mild astonishment and bemusement. "How do you even know to ask that?"

And I mumbled something about being into an eclectic variety of music, but I probably should have said something like - it's because I may be the biggest music geek I know.

I think we file this one under "winning and losing at the same time"

More Pix of the Hawk

Haven't seen him again. If I do, what should I name him?

Don't Fuck with Opera Fans

Last night, Cory and I went to see the HD screening of the Metropolitan Opera's Orfeo ed Euridice at a theater in Chelsea. It was a great idea - catch this Mark Morris-directed and choreographed interpretation of Gluck's piece, and be done in time to go home, have dinner and watch the Duke/Clemson game. Don't know if you're familiar with this Met Opera HD series, but it's actually pretty fantastic (and it's not New York-specific: there are screenings across the country). For a selection of Operas, there are live screenings, and then they'll repeat the screenings once or twice to give people another chance to see them. Excellent camera work, pretty good sound (weird echo sometimes), interesting features beforehand and during intermissions - it's a really good way to get to know the pieces, and you feel more a part of the production than you do in even the best seats at the Met. I mean, ok: no - you're not there live and in person. That can't be replicated. But I guarantee there is not a seat in the house with a better view of the performers' faces, or costume and set details. And the tickets cost less than all but the very worst seats in the Met. It's a very safe bet if you're in the mood for an opera.


But [you knew there was going to be a "but"] not last night.

Last night there were some "technical difficulties" which prevented the screening from happening. Man, you have never seen so many senior citizens (this was one of those occasions when I was one of the youngest people in the room) get so pissed off in your life. The theater sent up four people (count 'em - four) to make the announcement and organize the fallout. Before the first sentence was out of the manager's mouth, people were groaning and whining and shouting things. The scene at the Simpsons Premier Fail was nothing compared to this. People started complaining and would not rest.

And the people at the theater did a pretty good job of helping the situation (or trying to). They offered a full refund, a screening there and then of a different opera they had in stock, and/or a voucher for a different movie if you didn't want to stay for the second-choice opera. You'd think that would mollify people who, essentially, had no alternative at their disposal anyway.

Ummm... no.

They wanted to see this opera. Now. They wanted other choices. They wanted their choice of alternate operas to win (even when there had been a vote and it clearly hadn't won). They wanted a more accountable vote. And I suspect that if there had been another vote, there would have been a hanging chad issue to whine about too.

In their defense (I guess), this was the final encore screening of a tight, compact opera that has received all-but-unanimous raves, and which is finished for the season. Which means: this may have been the very last time in the history of ever that we had a chance to see this company perform this production. (Though I'm holding out the hope that it will be shown on PBS or released on DVD or something.) The winner of the alternate opera vote, Richard Strauss' Salome, while one that I like a lot, is not for all tastes. [Oh, and that led to more fun with disgruntled patrons: as the poor cinema employees were reading off the options and pronounced it 'Suh-LOAM' there were appalled shrieks of correction 'SA-lo-may!!!!!!' You can't really imagine it.]

It was pretty hilarious. Though not, of course, for the poor people working there, who had to wrangle the Strauss fans back into their seats and corral everybody else (Cory and I chose to take a voucher and head home - we'll go back and catch Milk or something) out into the lobby for the interminable process of crediting people's accounts (God help you if you bought your ticket with cash).

So we were sad to miss Orfeo, but hopefully we can catch it next year. And the entertainment value of the Debacle of Supreme Whininess? It was messy and not artful at all, but it was a pretty good consolation prize. The Greatest Generation making themselves heard in the most ridiculous way. Pure New York.

Props to the good people working at the Clearview Chelsea. I feel for you.

Now that Duke/Clemson disaster is another story...

Guess Who's Standing in the Window?

In the years I've lived in my place, I've gotten used to the pigeons in the window. They weren't there much when I had a cat, but in the years since, they've gradually made themselves at home there. Yes, it's a mess; no they're not nearly as cute or as happiness-making as the mourning doves who nested in my window in Illinois; no I haven't gotten around to putting up pikes or other deterrents.

Yesterday morning, though, I saw something I have not ever seen in the years I've lived in Hoboken. As I was getting ready to make coffee, I looked out the window, and saw this guy standing on the fire escape.

That would be a hawk. A hawk! Right there out my window on a snowy day.

The light was great, so I snapped a few shots. He stayed there valiantly (though he did not deign to step out of that shadow crossing his body). I'll post a tighter shot when I get back to my computer at home, but I like the composition of this one. See the hawk's shadow on the brick wall to the right?

I'm not enough of a naturalist to know what breed of hawk this is. Red Tailed, maybe? If you happen to know that kind of thing, give a shout.

So that was a good start to my day. And perhaps you'll notice that there are no pigeons anywhere in this photo. Nor were there any on my windowsill. This could turn into a real win-win situation.

Lost in Translation

Really lost.

This is a ridiculous but very funny feature showing movie posters from around the world. These are so very wrong they are tough to resist. You gotta wonder about the thinking that goes into something like this Russian poster for Star Wars...



Help us, graphic design team: you're our only hope.

NYC Legos

Ok, this is the second one of these that I've reblogged in about as many months. Christoph Niemann seems to have a pretty good track record with these online segments, this one being his Lego Ode to New York.

I Am Sick and Tired of Your Gabler Bashing

While I am really really tempted to go off on the notion of "Post-Partisan Compromise" as it currently exists, especially in terms of the recent Economic Stimulus package, I am resisting letting this cross all the way over to being a political blog. [I will, however let Glenn Greenwald say a lot of the things I've been thinking on the subject. And I don't promise that I won't revisit this question.]

Instead, I have to weigh in for a moment on the Roundabout Theatre's current production of Hedda Gabler, which has been getting a sound thrashing in the press. These reviews are, on the whole, in my opinion, mean-spirited and wrong. I'm not going to link to any of them, because I don't think they're worth the attention. And while I do have some problems with the production, a couple of them rather serious, the 'update' by Christopher Shinn was clear and streamlined, the concept and production directed by Ian Rickson was powerful and passionate, and that Mary-Louise Parker, who took some heat for missing how Hedda is 'meant to be played' (really? Is that how we think of that play and character? That there's a 'way to do it'? If you said that about Hamlet, you'd be laughed out of the room, or you should be.) in fact brought heat to the role, but not the obvious kind; rather the smoldering, under-the-surface-but-NEEDING-to-get-out kind. Not only that, but what she was doing was clear as mountain water. Loved it.


Open your minds, people. And I hope no one ever treats you the way the critics are treating this show.

Are You Kidding Me?

Because I just read this, about a California court ruling that a school can expel students for being lesbians (or rather, get this, for having "a bond of intimacy" that is "characteristic of a lesbian relationship") and it's all just peachy.  I can't even deal with it.  It's wrong on so many levels.  

California: when did you become the poster child for intolerance?  Do you guys sit up at night thinking of ways to ruin people's lives?  Innocent, underage Lutheran School students?  Just for kicks?

What's in a name?

So now that's she's Secretary of State, I guess we're back to Hillary Rodham Clinton. I could be wrong, but wasn't it usually just "Hillary Clinton" when she was running for President?

Speaking of the Presidential middle names, looks like we'll be hearing more of Obama's middle name too. As implied in the article linked above, it would seem to be an asset in talks with Middle Eastern Nations. Which talks, it is widely acknowledged, are poised to be more positive and productive than they've been in 30+ years. This is for a variety of reasons, including economic factors, but even James Earl Carter, Jr. (you know, Jimmy) said on the Daily Show the other night that the President's name will turn out to be helpful in negotiating a settlement in Israel (which by the way, he thinks is more doable now than ever. Wouldn't it be great if he were right?)

Of course, Obama's name has fueled and will continue to fuel ire among the terrormongers (I have to work hard to restrain myself from calling them 'terrorists') who make such splendid arguments as "moving detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the American Mainland will create a target in every city they're placed!" and "I, for one, don't want these men anywhere near MY town!!" As if they'd be hanging out at the Piggly Wiggly, not, um, behind bars in maximum security.

That's my move in the Name Game for today.

Well, ok, I'll also ask: how might things be different for Blagojevich if his name were Smith? Cohen? D'Angelo? Kennedy?

For Whom the Neocon Bell Tolls

Turns out that yesterday's Times saw William Kristol's last column.

Now, lest we get involved in any grave-dancing for the end of at least one phase of this Project for a New American Century disastermonger's career (that site is really worth spending some time examining, by the way, if you don't mind letting your blood boil for a while, especially as you see how the right wing exploited 9/11 utterly without shame or scruple to advance its economic and military goals. At least take a look at the Statement of Principles, written in 1997, and some of the people who signed off on it. To be fair, I should mention that Kristol's name is not among them.), let me say that I don't think that every single syllable uttered or written by Kristol is complete and unalloyed crap. Nope. I sure don't. Once in a while, he even makes some sense. Once in a while.

But what I'm really wondering is: what's the story here? What precipitated his leaving what had to be his most visible platform? (other than maybe those occasional appearances on TV)

Update: Here's what the Times itself has to say on the subject.

Boston Trip

Just a quick (and somewhat outdated) entry documenting the trip Lola and I made to Boston a couple weekends ago. Actually, I didn't even make it to Boston Proper, as my Sunday plans got squashed by a big-ish snow storm that happened up there.

The main event of the weekend was a late birthday celebration for Steve. His birthday (kind of a big round one) was last month, but it got a little lost in the Holidays, so Sue decided to take advantage of the fact that I was going up there (I didn't get a trip up there over in December, for the first time in a long time) to throw a Better-Late-Than-Never Bash for the birthday boy. They also kept up their holiday decorations a little later than usual to keep the festive spirit going.

Most of the shots I took ended up really blurry, but I think a couple of them are plenty bitchin anyway.

Like that one - the fact that it's out of focus can't change the fact that Steve is semi-hiding behind a Chococat Pillow. (No, I don't know what a Chococat is, but there you have it.)

And then there's the Cresch that they left up until after I'd visited. Yes, that is a stuffed Max (of Grinch fame) with antler tied to his head off to the left there, and yes, I do believe that those are spent glow sticks nestled behind baby Jesus.

Finally, here's a shot that's actually in focus. Sue was in the act of digging out from the snowfall (as we all were at that point). Took this one right before I hit the road to come home. I actually really like it. Sue may not have been in the mood to be photographed (she is seldom in the mood to be photographed) but she can't help looking great even when she's dusting snow off her car.

Happy Year of the Ox

That's right, it's Chinese New Year, a.k.a. Asian New Year, a.k.a. Lunar New Year. No matter how you slice it, it starts today. And if the Chinese Zodiac is to be believed, it's the Year of the Ox.

So, I don't know, have a hamburger, or swear off hamburgers, or something.

And while I'm on it

This photo essay from the good people at Boston.com covering the Inauguration and the people watching it worldwide is worth taking a look at in its entirety.


Guys at a hookah cafe in Baghdad watching coverage of Obama.

Oh, and by the way...

There's a new President of the United States of America!

We don't have to mention a certain oath-flubbing justice.

We don't have to dwell on a certain annoyance of a minister.

We don't have to make too many Mr. Potter jokes about a certain wheelchair-bound former high-ranking official (love that 'former'), or keep searching for metaphors about leaving behind a crippled nation.

We don't have to ask "Have we heard enough of that song at last?"

We don't have to wonder where I was yesterday when the rest of the country was blogging about this.


But we can look at this shot (click on it to get a larger view) and wonder if people might be ready to get together and do some work.



I hear some good things about this 'hope' idea...

Slight Return...

...to one of the themes in my Something Bad entry of a few days ago. (Bonus Smartypants Points, by the way, if you know to what I was referring in the title and first line of that post)

A source familiar with the Times' editorial decisions informs us that the article about the Supreme Court decision regarding the Exclusionary Rule written by Adam Liptak is considered by the Times to be an update of the story written by David Stout - i.e. a later version of the same story - so it replaced the earlier one rather than appearing in addition to it. Since to the best of my knowledge the Stout story never appeared in the print edition of the Times, it is now lost in the folds of the internets.

One might say 'good riddance to bad garbage;' one might surmise as to the thinking behind that unusually sweeping editorial choice, or the immediate feedback that led to it; one might marvel at something being removed from the record in our so-called 'Newspaper of Record.' But there it is: just one of the innumerable quirky publishing details that happen every day, perhaps remarkable only in that it was noticed by a handful of alert citizens.

Fun with Art and Music

Now this is good news, and I think you'll like it if you read it.

Totally fun to think of Charles Schulz finding the perfect piece of music for Schroeder to be playing, whistling, thinking about, and drawing it into the comic, line by line and dot by dot.

The Lonesome Death of...

William Zantzinger. Who served six months and paid a $500 fine for killing a black maid who didn't serve him a drink fast enough. In Maryland, in 1963, that was a different kind of possible.

Even today, if you poke around the news reports of his life and death, you'll find different tones depending on where you look.

This can't count as "good" news, because that would be morbid and wrong. And of course it turned out that the details of the case were not as cut and dried as the way Dylan painted them.



Still, one line keeps coming back to me:

She never done nothin' to William Zanzinger

I always found it interesting that Dylan took the 't' out of his name for the song, calling him 'Zanzinger.' Some kind of very subtle nod to the notion that the song's power comes from the Truth of the story itself, not its factual basis?

Something Bad Is Happening

Something very Bad is happening.

Maybe there is something lunar going on. Just too much is too weird for this all to be ok.

The Zipper Factory Theater closed suddenly, and without warning. Such a good space with good adventurous shows. Very sad.

For Round Two: the U.S. Supreme Court has dealt a dirty blow to due process, by cutting off the Exclusionary Rule, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure, at the knees. An odd addendum here is that the first article I saw on this in the Times was by David Stout and had a very glib tone - making it seem that this ruling was a-ok if you prefer not to see the bad guys get off on technicalities. But then on Thursday the Times had this article, by Adam Liptak, which is much better and more circumspect, and looks into the ramifications more. And - this is the weird part - that first article is now nowhere to be found. I'll print it at the bottom of this entry, because I think it's important to acknowledge these sorts of media events, especially in publications as influential as the Times. Not to be all conspiracy theory about it, but - what do you suppose is going on there?

No matter how you slice it, the ruling is bad news. And the fact that it's not being treated as BIG news is a little scary.

Next, we have the Metropolitan Opera facing huge cuts. Check out some of the specifics there: their endowment has dropped by a third, to the tune of $100 million dollars. That's 100 million dollars less than they had a couple years ago. This kind of detail is what causes me to go nuts at the notion of it being some big 'victory' when NEA funding increases by 20 or 50 million bucks. It's just not to scale with the problems, and shows that the arts are literally devalued. Or, if you prefer, undervalued. In any case, it seems to me that our policy-makers are missing the point in a fundamental, not incremental, way.

It's an old and well-worn point, but by way of comparison, bear in mind that NEA budget was $144.4 million in 2008 (and the Bush administration even tried to cut that); and the budget for U.S. Military Bands was $168 million - in 1997. They stopped releasing those numbers (as people started noticing things like this?), but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they haven't gone down.

And then - why should those things be enough? - a plane crashes in the Hudson River.

What the heck is going on, people?

But there was a seriously sunny side in the fact that no one died or was even too badly hurt in that crash. SO - soon I'll be posting an entry with some things that feel more like good news.

Meanwhile, here's that first article I saw about Wednesday's Supreme Court Ruling, which appears to have been pulled by the Times.

By DAVID STOUT

Published: January 14, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of an Alabama man on drug and weapons charges, emphasizing that the exclusionary rule, which generally bars prosecutors from using evidence obtained by the police through improper searches, is far from absolute.

In a 5-to-4 opinion, the court upheld the federal conviction of Bennie Dean Herring, who from the court records appears to have been very unlucky as well as felonious in his conduct. In upholding the conviction, the court’s majority came to a conclusion that will most likely please those who complain about criminals going free on “technicalities” and alarm those who fear that the high court is looking for ways to narrow the reach of the exclusionary rule.

Mr. Herring had gone to the Coffee County, Ala., sheriff’s department on July 7, 2004, to retrieve something from his truck, which had been impounded. “Herring was no stranger to law enforcement,” as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. observed dryly in his opinion for the court.

And he was no stranger to Mark Anderson, an investigator for the sheriff’s department, who asked a Coffee County clerk if there were any outstanding warrants for Mr. Herring.

No, Mr. Anderson was told. So he asked the clerk to check with her counterpart in neighboring Dale County, who turned up a warrant against Mr. Herring for failing to appear in court on a felony charge.

Mr. Anderson and a deputy following Mr. Herring as he left the impound lot pulled him over and arrested him. A search turned up methamphetamine in his pocket and a pistol, which Mr. Herring could not legally possess because of an earlier felony conviction, in his truck.

Within minutes, however, the Dale County clerk discovered that the warrant against Mr. Herring had been withdrawn five months earlier and had been left in the computer system by mistake. The clerk immediately called Mr. Anderson, but Mr. Herring had already been taken into custody.

Was Mr. Herring entitled to go free because the officers lacked probable cause and there was no dispute that both the arrest and subsequent search were unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment? No, the Supreme Court ruled.

“When police mistakes leading to an unlawful search are the result of isolated negligence attenuated from the search, rather than systemic error or reckless disregard of constitutional requirements, the exclusionary rule does not apply,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

“We do not suggest that all recordkeeping errors by the police are immune from the exclusionary rule,” the majority noted. But the justices said the official errors in the Herring case do not compare with the kind of egregious and deliberate police misconduct that gave rise to the exclusionary rule in the first place.

Deciding when to throw out evidence under the exclusionary rule is a balancing act, the majority said. Is the official misconduct serious enough that the evidence should be disallowed to deter future misconduct, even if criminals sometimes go free?

Not in Mr. Herring’s case, the majority ruled, upholding findings by a federal district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Stephen G. Breyer dissented. “In my view, the court’s opinion underestimates the need for a forceful exclusionary rule and the gravity of recordkeeping errors in the law enforcement,” Justice Ginsburg wrote.

But in the majority opinion, the chief justice wrote that the exclusionary rule “is not an individual right and applies only where its deterrent effect outweighs the substantial cost of letting guilty
and possibly dangerous defendants go free.”

At another point, Chief Justice Roberts wrote that “the very phrase ‘probable cause’ confirms that the Fourth Amendment does not demand all possible precision.”

The dissenters were unpersuaded, however. “Negligent recordkeeping errors by law enforcement threaten individual liberty, are susceptible to deterrence by the exclusionary rule, and cannot be remedied effectively through other means,” Justice Ginsburg wrote.

The Great Annual Post-Holiday Funfest Extravaganza

That's the title I gave to my party this year, which happened on Saturday. And, if I may say so myself, it almost lived up to the name.

A few days of prep, and we were ready to go. Mad props to Sherin and especially Cory for all the help - cooking, cleaning, shopping, setting up, decorating and hanging snowflakes. Sometimes, it's hard work having fun. We got a whole bunch of last-minute help from Aaron, Shannon and Jacquie too - getting ice, building bruschetta, setting out crackers & cheese, setting up the bar, all kinds of final-moments-before-the-throng-arrives details. AND - many thanks to Susan for bringing a huge batch of cupcakes in honor of Daniel's Birthday, which had been a couple days prior. Happy Birthday Daniel!

This year's menu, in part:

• Sweet Potato Soup
• Recession Stew with black beans, black-eyed peas, and mystery ingredients
• Bruschetta with goat cheese and olive tapenade
• Cheese platter featuring Tallegio and Danish bleu cheeses
• Chicken and Fennel Stew
• Portabella Mushroom Risotto
• Saffron Shrimp Risotto
• Peanut Blossom Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Date Cake
• Fudge
• Peanut Brittle
• and... Susan's Cupcakes

That's most of it. Vegetarians, Fishitarians and Carnivores were taken care of. Yum!

There was a healthy debate as to whether or not the Peanut Blossoms looked like boobs. Every party should have at least one conversation like this.

The bar was pretty well stocked with booze and mixers, and people brought beer and wine to fill it out. Conviviality flourished, and as usual it was a gathering that brought together loyal longterm friends and some of my newest friends and colleagues. About 30 people turned up in all; only a few were scared off by the nasty weather (which turned out to be milder than the histrionic meteorologists warned us it would be). This year's snowflake theme was Impressions of Obama (what the hell, it's an unprecedented Inauguration we're going to have next week), and I think that there may have been more snowflakes created this year than ever. The Argentinians really got into it!

No pictures yet. I was so psyched to shoot at this party, but when the time came I didn't want to do anything that felt like work. But other people took a bunch, I think, so I should be able to post some shots before long.

Special shoutout to Cory for the Iranian saffron (I think it's from Iran; I know she bought it in Istanbul though), which was featured in some of those dishes. She brought me some of those tiny but potent threads from her trip to Turkey. SOoooooo good! AND - we stayed up late late late to clean up afterwards, so no giganto mess the next day.

Which meant we got to play a legendary, Titanic game of Scrabble. I scored 311, which is usually enough to win, but not this time. No sir. Miss Cory scored an otherworldly 436. 436, people. That means that even if you took away the bonus points for her two bingos, she'd still have beaten me by 15 points. We used every tile but one. I guess you have to be a Scrabble fan to appreciate this, but let me tell you, it was a pretty cool way to polish off a great weekend.

Secretary of the Arts

Holy crap it's about damn time somebody did this.

Earlier today, Cory sent me an email with a link to a Petition to President-elect Obama, inspired by Quincy Jones, asking him (President Obama) to create the office of United States Secretary of the Arts.

This wouldn't necessarily have to be a Cabinet-level position, (which at any rate might start a political firestorm in the current climate), but the Secretary should have an active role in policy-making, not be a mere ceremonial figure.

As the email mentions, many other nations have some version of a 'Minister of Art and/or Culture' and have had them, in some cases, for centuries. "Well yeah," one might argue, "but these are other countries: places that consider Arts to be a matter of National Pride."

Well, yeah.

And maybe it's tricky for me to be saying this, since I work in the arts, and this can be seen as self-serving. And maybe it is a little self-serving. But I would add that I (and almost all the people I know who work in the arts) have made all kinds of sacrifices for the privilege. And that in addition to my opinion that art is, you know, important, there's tons of evidence that, in the context of education programs and as a part of daily life, artistic endeavor and interest help build the valuable skills of creativity, interpretation, imagination, discipline and critical thinking. AND - lest we fall prey to the argument that "in a time of such severe economic crisis, war and failing healthcare and educational systems, we cannot allow something as frivilous as the Arts to be treated as a truly high priority" - I would propose a fierce and heartfelt response along the lines of: "Smart and ambitious Art programs actually provide economic stimulus, and can amp up discussions in any number of policy areas. Besides, wouldn't you say that creativity, interpretation, imagination, discipline and critical thinking come in handy when constructing, say, a healthcare initiative?

So, in that spirit, I signed the petition with the following comment to President-elect Obama:

As you help America make its long-awaited and much-needed transition to a new era, please remember the importance of the Arts as building blocks of American Culture and Heritage. And remember the lessons of history: that the Arts can also be useful tools for providing employment, improving education and stimulating the economy. A Secretary of the Arts could play a very useful role to that end.

And for what it's worth I, signatory number 15086, encourage you to consider signing it too.

Choral Chameleon

SO, you know that vocal ensemble Choral Chameleon?

What? You don't? How could this have happened??


Alright, you're off the hook. While they'd been in the works for quite a while, they've only had once concert so far: a Holidayish offering at the Broadway Presbyterian Church in December. I know, I know: this is waaaay behind the times, but - the group will be back, and next time you'll get to be one of those lucky people in the know.

Vince Peterson directs a chorus of about 15 voices. While their Vision Statement (not to be confused with their Mission Statement. They make a lot of statements.) claims that they have assembled irrespective of age, they would appear to be a young bunch. This is not a criticism: without sacrificing professionalism or musicianship, they bring a fresh approach to programming, an adventurous spirit and a palpable (and infectious) enthusiasm to their singing.

They performed music inspired by Medieval Plainchant and music adapted from English folksong; Christmas Carols from American Gospel and African vernacular. They sang the relatively obscure (Joan Szymko's Nada te turbe - at any rate, that was unknown to me, and featured a lovely Cello line), and the all too well-known (White Christmas, Winter Wonderland - though that was in a fun new arrangement by Tony Asaro). Their warm voices blended into a hauntingly beautiful reading of Nurit Hirsch's Bashana Haba'ah. And they did not shy away from the very challenging, handling Poulenc's Quatre Motets pour un temps de Noel with intelligence and finesse.

Sure, there were moments of imprecision. Sometimes I would have liked to hear more power (although to be fair, there are only 15 of them). But what a treat to hear a new ensemble with such imaginative programming and ambitious intent. Keep them on your radar.

And maybe next time they won't let that pipe organ at Broadway Presbyterian loom silent behind them...

Snowflakes

One of the things I do before the big party I throw about this time each year is hang up these snowflakes.



They've been accumulating through the years (lots of years) going back to when I was a sophomore in college. And one of the cool things about having a sleeping loft (there are a few cool things) is that it gives you a snowflake's-level perspective.

Beautiful Girl

Just a quick entry to show a shot of that niece of mine in a better, less trigger-happy light.



I think she's gorgeous. I know she doesn't get the photographic attention here that her little sister does, but - take a look at her! The depth of field is kind of messed up, but I like the way this captures her quiet side.

Many thanks are due here to my sister for the new lense which allows me to catch light like this, so: Thanks Lori!!

Happy New Year Again

The theme of this entry is "Great Ways to Spend New Year's Eve."

For the last bunch of years, I have spent New Year's in one part of New England or another. It's a great tradition, and I love it, as I love the people I visit in Boston, Williamstown, and wherever else I end up visiting. However, this year I stayed in New York to say goodbye to '008 and hello to the New Year. And while I missed those friends that I don't get to see often enough, I had a FANTASTIC time here. Enough so that I'll share with you the headlines as a recipe, in case you're looking for a New Year that is true New York, but that could be approximated just about anywhere.

• We went to see a matinee of Speed the Plow on Broadway (including Norbert Leo Butz in his last-minute fill-in for the thermometric Jeremy Piven) You can't do this everywhere, but I bet there's some kind of live entertainment available wherever you live.
• Went to Gazala Place for a quick snack afterwards - yum!
• Cory had to go back to work, including a stint in Times Square shepherding dance fans through the throng to City Center. This is definitely a New York Only kind of thing, but consider: while there is certainly something very fun and maybe even glamorous about it, it was effin cold out, and it's more work dealing with the cops and the crowds than you want to be doing on NYE.
• While she was doing that, I went shopping for food, booze and movies, then proceeded to prepare dinner.
• When Cory came in from the cold, I greeted her with a cup of Kentucky Chocolate with peppermint marshmallows. Mmmmmmm...
• Then we had dinner - a simplified version of Steak Diane, roast potatoes and sweet potatoes, fresh green salad, pomegranate sorbet with chocolate chips. Rather tasty, if I may say so myself.
• Along with dinner, we had a drink that I thought I didn't like very much, but it turns out I like it very much. Prosecco, in this instance with pureed blackberries. MMMMmmmmmm...
• After dinner we watched Harold and Maude, which if you haven't seen, you should. There's a reason I give it a shoutout in the "description" part of this blog.
• Then we watched the Ball Drop Show on New Year's Rockin' Eve and on CNN, including the getting-on-but-still-kicking Dick Clark, and Anderson Cooper with the spirited (dare I say randy?) Kathy Griffin.
• Midnight Toast with more Prosecco. Eventually we polished the bottle and finished the night not too late, not too drunk - but fizzy and mellow and very happy indeed.

So it was short on insanity, but long on festivity. Couldn't have been happier!

Hope your New Year's Eve was happy as could be too, and that 2009 turns out to be your best year so far!

Happy New Year

Just the quickest entry today to wish a very Happy New Year to all and sundry out there on the internets. To celebrate, here's a shot of my youngest niece Anna on Christmas morning. Little bit of flash-induced red eye and harsh lighting going on, but I think that she and her camera and Hello Kitty still come off as pretty cute.



We worked on that puzzle together until her Grandma and Grandpa came over for the Holiday events. 'Twas fun.

For now - I hope that everyone has a safe and amazingly fun time tonight, and the best 009 imaginable (this is the last year we'll be able to celebrate double-Os for almost a thousand years - make the most of it!!)

Home from the Holidays

Well, I was out in Phoenix visiting the Fam for Xmas - had a great time and took a bunch of photos, including a lot with the new lense my adoring and adorable sister got for me. I'll be posting some of those soon: however, I haven't been able to upload them to this computer yet (and forgot to bring the cable with me today). SO - for now you will have to content yourself with this shot that I'm swiping from said sister's blog. I don't feel the least bit bad about it, because I actually took this one myself, just with her camera.

While we were out shooting bottles with pellet guns in the desert (and you thought my family was boring!) I thought it would be fun to get a shot of my niece Mary in Patty Hearst mode.

Hehehe. Fierce.

Anyway, I had a great time, and it's very good to be back.

And in sad news, Freddie Hubbard died today, only 70. One of the greats, and although he hasn't been all that active the last several years, he'll be missed. Great full life - and if you want to listen to him, WKCR has paused their fantastic and brilliant Bach Festival to have a fantastic and brilliant marathon tribute to Freddie. If you can handle listening to Phil Schaap blather on interminably from time to time (I know, I know - Phil's a legend himself, and one of if not THE most knowledgeable jazz aficionados out there, but: sometimes I just want him to shut up and spin some music), it is most definitely a broadcast worth a listen.

Ave atque vale, Freddie.

Yo La Awesome

Yo La Tengo finally took the stage in a blaze of holiday fury. Well, ok, it was more of a good natured shuffle, including commentary on the Menorah (sitting proudly on the piano) which had the wrong candle lit the night before, according to them. Then as they picked up instruments there was a quip that non-earplug portion of the evening had about 3 minutes to go. Which minutes were spent on a loverly version of The Weakest Part, and then, true to their word they launched loudly into a fiery fast version of Big Day Coming.





That photo looks like total crap, but I actually love it because it represents how impossible it was to capture Ira in action on keys, vocals and maraccas on that song. Total action, as Steve would say.


The show was wholly rocking throughout - vintage YLT, with a Velvet Underground cover (Guess I'm Falling in Love), cashmere "hits" (does Yo La Tengo have "hits"? Anyway, they did Autumn Sweater), relative rarities old (Five Cornered Drone) and new (Watch Out for me Ronnie), and collaborations with their guests.

Gotta love that pink sparkly 12-string, right??

They brought it all home with an orgasmic Story of Yo La Tengo and then brought Stephin back up to do some Irving Berlin (Be Careful, It's My Heart - thank you Yo La Blog)

Then came Super Secret Guest #3: Doug Gillard, of the later years of Death of Samantha and some of the highest peak moments of Guided by Voices. They started with George Gershwin's Foggy Day in London Town - this being Hanukkah, a premium was placed on the Jewish American Songbook, to universal acclaim (the universe for the purposes of this discussion consisting of the collected contents of Maxwell's)



The encore set was low-key amazing - more covers, natch. Culminated in "Next Big Thing" which was a perfect lead in for the Super Secretest Guest of them all...

...Ira's mom, who sang "My Little Corner of the World" Fun was had, tears of joy were shed. My understanding is that she comes to sing this at one show every year, but I've never had the fortune to be there before.

Did someone say Hanukkah Miracle? Remember, we were this close to missing not only this show, but the whole series of benefits at Maxwell's (this is a good place to mention that the worthwhile causes for this night's show were Burma Border Projects, and Burmese Refugee Project) Maybe I need to bring a representative of the 12 Tribes to all their shows...

Their Shirts

Before I go on to describe the amazingness that was the headline act of the Hanukkah shows, I feel a responsibility to report on the garb worn by The Magnetic Fields. Being that I'm a fashion maven these days and all. They all had on shirts with the names of famous Art Film Directors done up in fonts associated with heavy metal bands. To wit, Stephin Merritt wore a cotton shoutout to Werner Fassbinder:

Now, perhaps I shouldn't admit that I've never seen Berlin Alexanderplatz, but I lose no props admitting that I know Metallica lettering when I see it, do I?

The rest of the band was rounded out by homages to Ingmar Bergman (Iron Maiden), De Palma (Def Leppard), and Ozu (Ozzy Osbourne, natch).

'Twas then a bit ironic that it was so wintery, even in the club, that they had to wear said shirts under jackets and over sweatshirts; but wear them they did, and for that they're due Collective Fashion Credit.

A Hanukkah Miracle!

SO - it won't come as a surprise to most of you that I can be, well, kind of dumb sometimes. That came up recently as I made plans to take Cory to the Big Opening Night of Hanukkah concert by one of my fave bands, Hoboken's own Yo La Tengo (I've written about these shows before. In fact, it occurs to me that word for word, this may well be every bit as much a Yo La Tengo blog as a Dylan blog). Rather, I thought I'd made plans to see the show on the first night of Hanukkah - what I'd actually done was buy tickets for the 3rd night of Hanukkah, and then somehow convince my reliably unreliable memory otherwise to the extent that I made other, unchangeable plans for that same night.

D'oh! YLT would have to go...

Or would they? Out of nowhere, Cory came up with a pair of tickets for the 2nd night of the Legendary Yo La Tengo Hanukkah Benefit Shows at Maxwells, 2008 Version. (well, it seemed like it was out of nowhere... On the other hand, Cory is one of the Chosen People. Coincidence? You tell me.)

So we were off to Maxwell's for what promised to be a night of good rockin'.

And, ladies and gentlemen, that's what we got, with a lot more thrown in for good measure.

The opening band was The Magnetic Fields, rock artistes extraordinaire. Literate, textured, adventurous, funny, sexy, savvy, hip: what more do you want from four people wielding a guitar, a piano (a real piano, people!) a cello and a bouzouki. Think Leonard Cohen meets the Moldy Peaches, but better.



Ok, it's true. These photos were taken with my cell phone. SO - they kind of suck. But I didn't want to be lugging a camera around for this: can you blame me?

Anyway, they were a great way to open the evening. Universal rejoicing.

Next was the comedy portion of the evening, brought to us by everyone's favorite PC, Johnathan Hodgman.

Yes, that's a martini in his hand, and I think it's only fair. He was, after all, the evening's resident Lapsed Catholic, and I daresay he needed some fortification. Later on, he rocked the ukelele for the sultry Santa Baby. This after a diatribe on the tawdry sexuality that you perhaps didn't realize lurked within Christmas Carols. Beyond I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, beyond Earth Kitt growling Santa Baby, beyond Christmas is Coming (the goose is getting fat), beyond the Valley of the Dolls, there's the inescapable nastiness of When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney.
Or at least that's Johnathan's story, and he's sticking to it.

That's it for the opening act. The main event comes later.

Hooray 21st Amendment!

Did you know that it's Repeal Day? Well, it is.

I recommend you make some kind of toast to it with a friend, or even just someone you meet in a bar.

Coffee Art

In honor of a beverage that I enjoy some version of almost every day, here's a reblog to Christoph Niemann's piece in the Times from a couple days ago. It's fun, includes lots of good images, and can be digested in small doses.



Mmmmmmm... coffee...

I am not one of those people who absolutely cannot start the day without some java , but I do like to drink it. A lot. [Those of you pro-health/anti-joy people out there should know that I usually mix caffeinated and decaf to mollify the negative health effects, although sometimes that just gives me an excuse to have more.] And I am one of those people who has a grinder and four separate ways of making coffee set up in his apartment ready to go at a moment's notice:

• Ye olde coffee maker - Mr. Coffee himself, ol' reliable.
• French Press - gift to myself for my birthday, thanks to a gift card from Lauretta.
• Espresso/Cappucino maker - one of the cheapos, with a not-really-powerful-enough steamer, but it does the trick.
• Manual Drip Funnel - when done right, maybe the best of all. Yum!

So there that is. I will surely get a cup of something good to celebrate this entry.

out of touch...

...Blog-wise. Hey, it happens.


So I've decided to get myself back in the habit a little by entering posts for the next few days in a row if I can manage it. Maybe it'll spur me to write something more substantial, and if not, at least I'm putting something out there while I'm in production week of what may be the most puzzling show I've worked on in many years (maybe since Bits of String, way back when I still lived in Boston).

More on that later. For now, as I finish a rather nice portobello mushroom bisque, I'll show you some shots from this year's T-day in Peterborough, NH (you remember T-day, right?)


First, here's Molly making magic in the kitchen:


That'd be the beginning of her legendary broccoli cheese extravaganza.

Next, here we have Eliza, the lady of the house, wondering what's up with all the people.
She's awfully cool, though. And a couple days after we left, her mom wrote that she kept asking for 'the people'

Speaking of her mom, here's Rebecca, the hostess extraordinaire.

She and Jason couldn't have been more gracious, and her home and hospitality reached great heights.

Here's one of the pie-making part of the party.

Notice there are not one, not two, but FIVE people involved with making crusts and fillings. And this was just one of several sessions. Couldn't resist being what SueBee (naturally) called the Pieparazzi. And, especially for my readers in Beijing, check out the beard that Chris is sporting these days.

Last but not least, here's a shot of the field trip we took to downtown Peterborough, to start up the turkey ovens (we needed three ovens for all the cooking, roasting and baking we did) and get a taste of Our Town today. (Did you know that Grover's Corners was based on Peterborough? Well, it was.)

As if we weren't having enough fun with the tandem stroller, we visited an antique shop, arty places, kitchy places, and Tamiko even picked up a heavy-duty log grabber for her fire pit in Boston. 'Twas a cold and blustery day, but the walk was well worth it.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, and is enjoying the holiday season.